Rafael Benítez hoping Lyon gamble will save season following Liverpool's defeat to Fulham

The body language said it all. As a grim-faced Rafael Benítez made the
uncomfortable walk from the dug-out to the dressing rooms in the cottage
that lends its name to the stadium, he looked like a condemned man.

Fumbling to put his glasses in their case, he appeared to be cursing under his breath.

They were probably words of disapproval aimed at the referee and his injury problems. He will have been better served aiming his disapproval at the players who, once again, let him down.

A sixth defeat in seven games and, most importantly, the fifth loss in just 11 Premier League games, leaves Liverpool and Benítez at crisis point. The manager can complain all he likes about his missing players and the rights or wrongs of the two red cards that reduced his side to nine men, but the facts outweigh the excuses.

Fact: Liverpool have seven points fewer than at this stage last season.

Fact: This is their worst start for 16 years; in 1993 they lost five of their first nine.

Fact: No team has won the Premier League with more than six defeats in a 38-game season.

So when Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager who so sensibly orchestrated the visitors’ demise, suggests that Liverpool can still win the title, he is being polite. Benítez’s squad is too short on talent and when key players are missing, the rest are not good enough.

That point was highlighted by the sight of Fernando Torres scoring a goal then coming off early ahead of Wednesday’s crucial trip to Lyon, a game Liverpool must win. And Benítez admitted that a player troubled by a hamstring problem is having to be handled with kid gloves.

“The question is, if you don’t play Torres from the beginning you will be talking about why he is not playing, so it’s a difficult decision,” said Benítez. “We decided to start with him because he can do a proper warm-up but after we knew we needed to take him out at certain moments so we decided it was 60 minutes because the last time with 80 minutes he needed four days to be fit.”

The score was 1-1 when Benítez replaced Torres with Ryan Babel. Against the run of play, Bobby Zamora had given Fulham a 24th-minute lead but Torres responded just before the interval with his 10th goal in 12 starts this season. In the knowledge that anything less than a win in France could end Liverpool’s Champions League aspirations, Torres was rested – and Fulham took control.

“I think it was clear we needed to do something because always you think about protecting the player, and in this case we were more or less in control of the game, but we had some chances in attack with [Andrei] Voronin, [Dirk] Kuyt, Yossi [Benayoun] and Babel, so to keep the player on the pitch could be a problem and maybe you lose the player for one month.

“We were analysing before the game what to do. So we decided to play him; that was the most difficult decision. And after, you have to manage during the game.”

Benítez remains hopeful that Gerrard could return in Lyon and will hope his gamble will deliver Torres against the French. But there is more to this crisis than just a half-fit Torres. Javier Mascherano looked like a player going through the motions, while too many others are just not good enough.

Fulham impressed in the second half and were ahead again, through Erik Nevland, when Philipp Degen’s lunge on Clint Dempsey reduced Liverpool’s numbers. Ten became nine when Jamie Carragher, who had already survived a questionable challenge on Bobby Zamora, halted the striker again and walked, albeit reluctantly.

So with Torres off and Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Albert Riera, Alberto Aquilani, Fabio Aurelio, Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and David Ngog all missing, this was a second-string Liverpool and, not surprisingly, a third goal came easily for Dempsey.

Carragher defended himself when he said: “The referee was not in the greatest position and it’s always a dead giveaway when the player you are tackling [Zamora] says at the time that I won the ball.” He also admitted that the players were baffled by this run. “We have come away with another defeat which has left us scratching our heads a little bit. We have got to get back on track with Lyon on Wednesday which is another massive game. These are tough times at the moment and it hurts, it is hurting a lot.”